Lawn bowlers guilty of match-fixing

The normally genteel game of international lawn bowls is under a cloud with New Zealand's top four bowlers found guilty of match-fixing.

An independent investigation has concluded the star bowlers deliberately played badly during the Asia-Pacific tournament in Malaysia last August to better their finals draw.

The top Kiwi combination had already qualified for the play-offs but the team's narrow 15-17 loss cost Canada its place and positioned New Zealand better for a win.

After months of investigations, a judicial panel has agreed with claims by Canada that the team of Gary Lawson, Shayne Sincock, Shannon McIlroy and Jamie Hill purposefully conceded four shots and threw the 17th end of the match.

Lawson, a double world champion, said today he was "not too stressed" by the verdict and would wait until the punishment was revealed at the end of the month before deciding whether to appeal.

"If the penalty is not too bad I don't think it will matter about appealing. At this stage I think we will just sit back and see what happens," he said.

"I would like to think it won't be too harsh. I think we have already served a big enough penalty.

These are mild-mannered words from Lawson, who dismissed the claims as "silly rubbish" when they were first aired last September.

In a heated television interview, the champion said the Thai player had "got a fluke".

"We didn't throw the game, we just lost. It happens occasionally. Apparently we're not allowed to do that."

He blamed the New Zealand coach, Dave Edwards, for creating the drama, saying: "He should be charged with impersonating a coach," and implied the sport and its administration were corrupt.

"If they think throwing a game is corrupt ... I think the whole sport in New Zealand is corrupt."

Lawson also said at the time that he was angry the team was effectively being forced to prove its innocence.

"They bring in their hot shot lawyers. What do we do? Hire a QC? It's just bullshit."

His plan, he said then, was to front the judicial committee "and deny everything".